THE
KILLSWITCH
COLLECTIVE

The Killswitch Collective
is a next-generation, digital
and creative agency based
in Chicago.

For the past 11 years, Killswitch has
created identities, built brands and
developed digital experiences.

Today, we remain true to our founding
tenets of creative energy and aesthetic
diversity with an intimate, collaborative
vibe. Spanning the corporate and
creative, the local and international,
our work is as varied as our clients.

Launching of Lucky Peach

January 14th, 2015

Lucky Peach is a quirky, colorful and exceptionally-designed quarterly food magazine based in NYC. Since 2011, the magazine has hooked readers with its wonderful stories, playful drawings and delicious recipes. After much popularity in the print realm, the peaches decided it was time to make their way into the land of pixels, each month focusing on a different theme.

We had the extreme pleasure of teaming up with the very talented folks over at Pitchfork Creative and developed the new LuckyPeach.com. Here, you’ll find original stories, dining recommendations from all over the world, lots of fabulous recipes, interviews, cooking videos and of course, lots of peachy comics sprinkled throughout.

Lounge County: The Greatest Lounge Pants Ever Made

December 1st, 2014

The ultra comfortable lounge pants, appropriately called Robies, are the result of Lounge County’s frustration with regular pants and how they just aren’t suitable for achieving ultimate relaxation both inside and outside the home. Lounge County is an apparel start up that knew how to make terrific pants but was lacking an identity and online presence. We crafted Gary the Jellyfish to be the brand’s official mascot and part of the logo, and we designed the company’s website and email marketing templates to fit in with Lounge County’s sense of humor.

The website runs on the popular Shopify e-commerce platform, and Killswitch set up the store, built with a completely custom theme. Going custom allowed Lounge County to easily educate people about their superior lounge pants, and as a result, initial customer feedback and sales have been fantastic.

You can check out the store at loungecounty.com. We’d highly recommend buying a pair!

Team Everywhere

November 10th, 2014

After many months of hard work, we’re pleased to reveal the new identity and website design we created for Team Everywhere, founded by long-time client, Jes Sherborne. Team Everywhere is collaboration software for creative teams, allowing them to work together remotely, no matter where they are. An infinite real-time whiteboard makes it easy to share ideas. Chat keeps everyone in the loop. Workspaces allow team members to keep things organized by creating a room for each project and team. And of course, each workspace has its own video feed to make it easy for teams to show off ideas and see how others respond.

We designed a bold, memorable logo that aims to communicate the ideas of collaboration, sharing and working together in harmony. The business cards sport a rich seam of blue sandwiched between two white sheets for extra thickness and a tactile flair. The responsive website clearly communicates all features that Team Everywhere has to offer, and each section—sketch, chat, workspaces, video—is treated as its own, unique panel with screenshots to illustrate each point.

For all you creative types out there, this app is definitely worth checking out! Remote collaboration just became so much easier. teameverywhere.com

The Pi Phillecroix Story

September 11th, 2014

We recently had the pleasure of working with our friend, Bruce Katlin, on the design of a wonderful little book he wrote called Birds Like Us: The Pi Phillecroix Story. Full of multifarious characters, this colorful and eclectic narrative is about Pi Phillecroix, a flightless pigeon who journeys from Paris to England to find a cure for her dying father.

The Phillecroix’ have long been respected the world over for their daring and flying excellence. Intelligent, loving, virtuous, enormously devoted and reverential to mother and father, Pi bears the weight of her parents’ disappointment when they learn that the family’s tradition of flying excellence has ended. When her war-decorated and beloved father becomes seriously ill, Pi steals away in the middle of the night to walk from Paris to England in an attempt to find Dr. Allbewell, the only one who may have the powers to save his life. Readers from ages twelve to one hundred and twelve will identify with Pi’s journey and feelings of inadequacy, the ridicule she has to endure for being ‘different,’ and ultimately, the courage she exhibits in facing her fears one step at a time.

Throughout the book interior, pigeon feet wander across the pages. On the cover, we took some of the beautiful sketches Bruce drew of pigeons, France, and l’Arc de Triomphe and infused them with a rich watercolor element that wraps around the cover from warm reds and yellows on the front to cool blues and purples on the back. We had such fun working on this book design and hope you’ll check it out.

You can purchase the book here.And you can learn more about Bruce on his blog.

Helping the Cause of Economic Freedom Around the Globe

September 3rd, 2014

The Atlas Network is a nonprofit organization connecting a global network of more than 400 free-market organizations in more than 80 countries to the ideas and resources needed to advance the cause of liberty. We’ve been extremely fortunate to work with Atlas on the design and development of their new website. Our mission was to better harmonize the efforts of everything Atlas Network is doing into a more engaging digital presence and to help them better connect with their partners, donors and others who are interested in liberty-oriented content.

Throughout the entire site, the work of Atlas’ 400+ partners is prominently featured, from the homepage image carousels, to the streamlined global partner events calendar, to the Atlas Leadership Academy alumni profiles, to the newly designed global partner directory which formerly was a spreadsheet download. Development is ongoing and we are looking forward to adding various features and a responsive mobile design in the near future.

Catapulting ArtPower! into its Second Decade

August 27th, 2014

ArtPower! is the University of California at San Diego’s most energetic compilation of music, dance and spoken word. The program provides exciting opportunities for the UCSD and San Diego communities to engage in discovery and dialogue with creative innovators in the arts. Since 2007, we have continued to work with ArtPower! at UC San Diego on a wide array of projects, including the design of the performing arts brochure for each new season. Every year, we explore a new design theme, trying to give each new brochure a more visual push from years past. From pale organic color washes to bold, artistic splatters, the end goal is always to complement the performance imagery in fresh, engaging ways. As the 2014-2015 performing arts season catapults ArtPower! into its second decade, our latest brochure design incorporates rolled paint textures and a bright color palette for a vibrant, yet gritty, urban feel. Click here to view our ArtPower! brochures from past seasons.

Introducing Buda Juice to the Cold-Pressed Juice Bar Scene

April 17th, 2014

Buda Juice is a new juice bar start-up in the Dallas metro area, the brain child of veteran entrepreneurs Bernard Lucien Nussbaumer and Horatio Lonsdale-Hands. When Horatio came to us, quick turn around was of the essence. The first locations were almost set to open, but they did not have a website yet, and their logo needed quite a bit of help. We came up with an entirely new logo for them and then designed the site around that, focusing on what makes Buda Juice truly great: all organic, local, seasonal and vegan ingredients, delicately hand juiced to preserve all nutrients. We can’t wait to taste all their menu items next time we’re in Dallas! We wish the Buda Juice team great success, and hopefully you’ll be able to find one soon in every city! budajuice.com

Celebrating 10 Years!

December 20th, 2013

Pop stars. Fashion trends. Celebrity marriages. Technology. Some things don’t last ten years, but The Killswitch Collective has. And over this time, we’ve learned a lot. We’ve been fortunate to work with a wide range of clients. From start-ups to well-established companies, from corporate businesses to creative endeavors, we’ve (almost) seen it all. As we enter our eleventh year, we extend a big “Thank You!” to all of you. Whether you’ve followed us on Twitter or Facebook, worked for us, or used our services, we couldn’t have done it without you. We are happy and excited to share with you our updated website, featuring all the wonderful projects we’ve been a part of. We’d love to hear what you think! Here’s to ten amazing years and hopefully many more!

Launching Luxury Online

October 1st, 2013

Chicago’s Drake Hotel is a historic icon, and naturally, when The Drake team approached us to design and build a new website for the hotel, we jumped at the opportunity to create something special. Anyone who walks into The Drake will find themselves ensconced in old Chicago style, from the architecture and décor to the gorgeous hallways, warm and rich with history. The Drake has provided countless experiences to remember, and we thought it was time that the website does the same. We were able to take the vision of The Drake Hotel team and create a unique, highly captivating website that showcases The Drake Hotel as a historic icon, while bringing it in to the modern day. The new sophisticated site offers a contemporary look and a streamlined user experience. With improved navigation and functionality, the website provides quick and easy access to everything from accommodation options and dining menus to meeting space floor plans and wedding galleries. thedrakehotel.com

Bringing Artists and Audiences Together

September 1st, 2013

ArtPower! is the University of California at San Diego’s most energetic compilation of music, dance and spoken word. The program provides exciting opportunities for the UCSD and San Diego communities to engage in discovery and dialogue with creative innovators in the arts. To coincide with ArtPower!’s ten year anniversary, Killswitch has designed and built a new website which allows for easy, accessible exploration of all the programs and events that ArtPower! has to offer. To keep things fun, the color scheme of the website shifts between blue and white during the day and bright orange and white during the evening. The site backend gives the ArtPower! team plenty of flexibility to upload multiple images and videos for each event or program. A multimedia section allows for further exploration into artists, curators, students, supporters and performances that visitors wish to learn more about. artpwr.com